Godrej to sell Ambipur license to P&G

MUMBAI: FMCG player Godrej Consumer Products ( GCPL) is likely to give up the license to sell the air-freshener brand 'Ambipur' in India to global major P&G in the next 2-3 months, a top company official said on Monday.

GCPL, which holds the licensing right for Ambipur in India till 2012, is looking to bring the air-freshener brand of the recently acquired Indonesian firm Megasari to India.

"Talks are on and we might sell our licence to P&G in the next 2-3 months. We are currently catering predominantly to the auto sector and that too mainly cars. Its contribution to our total revenues is insignificant," GCPL's Managing Director, A Mahendran, said in Mumbai.

Ambipur is the air-care brand of GCPL's subsidiary Godrej Sara Lee, in which GCPL had bought 51 per cent stake this year for about Rs 800-crore and rechristened it as Godrej Household Products Limited (GHPL). It has an annual turnover of Rs 1,100-crore.

While the insecticide segment with brands like 'Good Night' contributes 80 per cent to the total sales, air-freshener and shoe-care (Kiwi shoe polish brand) forms the rest.

"The air-freshener category is very small in India. It contributes a very insignificant amount to our total sales and hence it won't affect us for some time," Mahendran said, adding that the company is looking at launching Megasari's air-freshener in the country in the near future.